New World Update 1.8.1 Patch Notes

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• New World Aeternum Season 9 More Ways To Earn Rewards: How To Maximize Your Seasonal Efficiency?

  As you know, New World Aeternum Season 9 introduces several new mechanics and more new content, each with its own unique rewards. But if you want to fully maximize the value of the season, simply completing them isn't enough.

  As a complex MMORPG, New World offers many ways to earn rewards in addition to the playable PvE and PvP content. While not every reward is significant, they can add up to a significant income!

  To ensure you stay consistently "rich" during Season 9, we'll explain all the ways to earn rewards.

  

  Finding And Utilizing Well Of Fortune

  In New World Aeternum Season 9, Well of Fortune is a special mechanic located in Cutlass Keys that provides improved access to max gear score items.

  Additionally, after the update, you can now consume Doubloons to obtain Non-Apex crates, giving you a chance to drop items ranging from 720 to 725 gear points. Doubloons can also be redeemed for a wide range of other items.

  Notably, if you're lucky, you can use 5 Deloons to open a special chest found in Cutlass Keys, rewarding you with even more Deloons! Deloons can be obtained primarily through completing PvP quests.

  Empowering Yourself With Chromatic Seals

  Chromatic Seals are redeemable items that enhance your character's power by improving your artifacts and gear, increasing your efficiency in earning loot through combat.

  However, there are specific restrictions on obtaining and using Chromatic Seals:

  • You can only obtain them from vendors belonging to your faction by consuming faction tokens and coins.
  • They can only be redeemed once every 24 hours.
  • Chromatic Seals cannot be traded with other players.
  • One seal is needed for artifact perk applications, and three are needed for item upgrades.

  Conducting Valuable Trades At The Trading Post

  Serving as a central trading hub, not only does every city in the game have a Trading Post, but each one also offers unique items. You can sell excess loot earned from completing PvP quests here, or trade for crafting or leveling materials.

  Due to seasonal adjustments, you'll notice that the items and their values available at the trading post will also change accordingly. If you have a bit of business acumen, this is the best way to farm more New World Aeternum coins in a short period!

  Simply put, by constantly monitoring market trends and taking advantage of the changing value of specific items over time, you can earn them first, and then sell them to get extra coins. Of course, this method requires you to have sufficient game time.

  Crafting Asmodeum And Prismatic Ingots

  Asmodeum, a crucial crafting material, is not only used to craft powerful 700 Gear Score items, but also serves as a recipe for various trade skills and can even be sold as a commodity for more coins. If you want to craft them, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Smelting Level 200
  • 5x Orichalcum Ingot
  • 2x Cinnabar
  • 1x Obsidian Flux
  • 2x Charcoal

  As for Prismatic Ingots, they are primarily used for crafting powerful weapons, armor, and other high-level items, as well as crafting gear for different builds and weapon replicas.

  Note that both items can be crafted a limited number of times per day, so to maximize their benefits, it's recommended that you consume all crafting opportunities daily.

  Active Cooking

  In Season 9, cooking remains a key skill in New World Aeternum, providing both income and character progression. It's also a pleasant way to relax compared to the thrilling combat.

  Cooking in the game must be done in the kitchen of your settlement, and the kitchen will upgrade as town projects are upgraded. You need to collect ingredients at various locations across the map. After cooking, you can sell the food for income.

  In addition, you should keep the following points in mind when cooking in Season 9:

  • Season 9 increases the value of attribute food.
  • Equip items that increase luck before farming ingredients like bananas to increase ingredient yield.
  • When cooking for coins, choose the best or most in-demand dishes based on market conditions.
  • Follow the cooking guides to level up your cooking skills faster.

  Selling Potions

  First, potions themselves provide effective buffs in combat, increasing your efficiency in earning rewards. Second, you can craft popular potions and sell them in your free time to replenish your coin inventory.

  While cooking is easier and faster, potions offer higher returns and benefits. It's worth noting that if you want to utilize potions in Season 9, Arcana profession is still a good choice while you adapt to the seasonal changes to potion mechanics.

  Choosing The Best Farming Location

  After mastering the above methods for earning rewards, you'll also need to travel to locations with high item drop rates or enemy spawn rates to farm.

  The first location we recommend is Brightwood. Its advantage is that you can simply arrive, climb to the top, descend, and repeat this route to complete your resource farming without consuming any additional time.

  If you prefer a more flexible route, Restless Shore is a good option. Once there, head to the temple, explore thoroughly, and kill all the enemies. Alternatively, you can freely explore other locations in the area for additional adventures.

  These are the main ways to earn additional rewards in New World Aeternum Season 9, beyond completing main quests or dungeons. I hope you find this helpful! Thank you for reading.

• New World Aeternum Season 9 Leveling Guide: How To Order Your Quests?

  New World Aeternum feels like the first MMO whose core features aren't modeled after World of WarCraft. It's not about slaying giants, but about satisfying gameplay itself. Players journey to an isolated island filled with danger, monsters, and riches, embarking on a thrilling adventure.

  This game, now in its 9 season, boasts excellent graphics and smooth combat, enough to keep players hooked for thousands of hours. For new players, the most important task is to level up quickly, unlock all features, and participate in PvP battles. Here's a guide to leveling up in New World Aeternum Season 9.

  

  Unlock Reward Levels

  • Level 5: Second weapon slot, and unlocks the quest to get a camp.
  • Level 10: Ability to duel other players, first bag slot
  • Level 15: Camp level upgrade (Level II), third consumable slot
  • Level 20: Unlocks the ring slot, mount quest, and main quest to get Azoth Staff.
  • Level 25: Camp level upgrade (Level III), fourth consumable slot
  • Level 30: Second bag slot, unlocks the main quest to get Azoth Staff upgrade.
  • Level 35: Unlocks the second residence.
  • Level 40: Unlocks the earring slot, new main quest, and Azoth Staff upgrade, and camp Upgrade (Level IV)
  • Level 45: Unlocks three backpack slots
  • Level 50: Can participate in invasions
  • Level 55: Unlocks the third residence, camp Upgrade (Level V)
  • Level 60: Can participate in Outpost Rush

  1. Main Quests

  Following the main quest will earn you a lot of XP. From levels 1-5, you'll need to complete the main story on the beach. Complete this section before you start wandering around, or you'll have to come back for MSQ. Following the main quest will gradually unlock factions (you can choose one of three) and important features like dungeons, all of which are valuable sources of XP.

  Because the main quest requires you to travel around the map, it's quite time-consuming. Try to concentrate all your main quests for the day in one area, or complete multiple main quests while you're on the map. This will ensure that your map is efficient, and taking a lot of time traveling but completing only a few quests is a significant loss of value.

  As you level up, always focus on the main storyline. When your attributes or other requirements are insufficient to continue the main storyline, you can pursue side quests or event quests.

  2. Faction Quests

  After following the main storyline and reaching a settlement, you'll unlock a faction (level 17). Factions offer a series of quests, with PvP quests offering the highest XP rewards. The first three faction quests each day offer 5 times XP bonuses, so players who need to level up are recommended to complete these three quests daily. Faction quests are most rewarding between levels 18 and 23.

  3. Mounts

  Mounts are essential for saving time while traversing the map. They allow you to quickly travel between locations on the map, significantly reducing quest completion time. You need to reach level 20 to unlock the mount quest, "My Kingdom for a Horse."

  Speak to Horse Whisperer Jochi Khan in Northern Everfal to receive the quest, and completing the quest rewards the mount, Moonshadow.

  4. Corruption Portals

  Corruption Portals will randomly appear on the map. Each portal offers some valuable rewards, but they vary in size. If you're not at a high level, you can challenge smaller portals with friends, but soloing is not recommended. After defeating a Corruption Portal, besides XP and New World Aeternum coins, there's a chance it will drop the artifact, The Abyss.

  5. Expedition

  Expedition quests are repeatable and can be accepted before entering a dungeon. Each completed quest grants approximately 4,000 XP.

  6. Town Project Board Quests

  Those quests are offered by the guild of the current town. These quests are generally not very difficult to complete, typically requiring you to turn in raw materials or crafting items, or to explore certain locations.

  You can check the latest town quests for the day in Town Project Board Quests column and select the easier ones to complete. For quests that require materials, you can also trade them directly with other players. If the required materials require a large amount of New World coins, it's recommended that you gather them yourself.

  7. All Together Now

  In New World Aeternum, there are some casual trade skills, such as gathering and blacksmithing, while you can also become a bard in the game. To play music, you need to choose one of 5 instruments. The music you play is independent of your instrument, but different instruments will have different mini-games.

  Different levels unlock different music scores, each with different bonuses:

  • Decidedly Dexterous (level 2): Increases gathering speed
  • Territorial Triumph (level 5): Increases territory standing rewards
  • All Together Now (level 25): Increases group XP rewards
  • Song In Your Step (level 75): Reduces player encumbrance
  • Fortune's Favor (level 100): Increases gathering yield
  • Luck's Labor (level 150): Increases gathering luck
  • Never Stop Learning (level 205): Increases XP for non-fishing-gathering trade skills

  All Together Now grants a one-hour bonus to your group's XP gain, starting at 4% and increasing to 15%. If you haven't learned this skill, you can let a friend play it for you.

  8. PVP

  New World Aeternum Season 9 also introduces more PvP maps and PvP modes, where you can earn significant XP by killing enemies. Meanwhile, as you battle for fortresses and towers with your faction, you'll also earn New World coins and other rewards.

  There are several other ways to level up in New World. However, as long as you utilize the methods above flexibly, you New World players will be able to quickly increase their character levels.

• New World Aeternum Season 9 Free-For-All PvP Zone Changes: How To Earn 725 Gear Score Items With These New Buffs?

  New World: Aeternum Season 9 update brings a host of new content, including new artifact weapons, combat changes, and new Arena maps. The most notable changes are to Free-For-All zone.

  Free-For-All zone is a typical PvP zone, specifically Cursed Mists zone in Cutlass Keys map, designed for open-world PvP and featuring a gathering mechanic.

  When players enter this zone, they are marked as PvP and can fight anyone, even those from the same faction. Players can find a wealth of rare resources, chests, and treasure maps here, but dying in this zone has severe consequences: they lose all found resources and half of their Doubloons.

  Once you die, the treasure chests you find can be looted by multiple players, and progress isn't reset. This makes chest stealing possible, emphasizing the PvP combat element of this zone.

  However, because this zone encourages PvP combat, it inevitably leads to malicious team-building and loot-stealing, significantly diminishing the PvP experience for some solo players.

  To address this, the developers introduced a team-building debuff system in Season of the Banner. This system aims to discourage players from getting too close, adding another layer of complexity to combat and team formation. So, let's take a look at how this FFA zone change will affect your gameplay experience.

  

  FFA Zone Debuff Effect

  First, let's take a look at how this debuff works.

  In this free-for-all PvP zone, if you get too close to other players, you'll automatically receive a debuff. This debuff increases in strength as you get closer, causing you to take more damage from them while dealing less damage.

  Then, if you continue to stay close to other players, the debuff's duration will continue to stack and increase. If you hover over a debuff, you can see its specific stats.

  Now, if you want to escape this new debuff, you can either kill other players, stay away from them and hide, or simply leave the area. But remember, this can be a bit tricky, so try to avoid being close to other players when entering Cursed Mists zone.

  Free-For-All Zone Chest Buff

  Now, here's the kicker. When you claim Cursed Storage Chests and various rewards within this Free-For-All zone, you'll claim them faster. Furthermore, each chest provides more Doubloons. For example, here, Cursed Hoard (Large) gives us an average of around 50 Doubloons, while Cursed Stash (Small) gives us 25 Doubloons.

  While there are a lot of players engaging in PvP at the start or entrance of Free-For-All zone, it seems that the number of players actually decreases the deeper you go. This means that by collecting these treasure chests, we can stock up on a lot of free Doubloons.

  

  Remember, there are also some small challenge quests, which can be identified by the beams of light emanating from the treasure chests. However, keep in mind that these areas are crowded with players, especially in Season 9, and they will definitely challenge you if they see you there.

  So, be careful and be prepared for a fight at any time, as someone might challenge you even while you're trying to open a treasure chest. Furthermore, fighting another player while surrounded by NPCs can be much trickier. Trust me, it's not impossible.

  Again, the reason I'm highlighting these different methods of obtaining Doubloons is because you'll need a lot of them if you want to maximize your chances of getting those potential 725 Gear Score items in The Well of Fortune. Even if you don't get the high-GS gear you were hoping for, selling them can still earn you some extra New World Coins. So, having a few Doubloons on hand is never a bad idea.

  What Are Doubloons For?

  So, let's move on to The Well of Fortune, and I'll explain what I'm talking about in detail.

  In New World, The Well of Fortune is a shop located in Cutlass Keys settlement, near the town project board. Here, players can exchange Doubloons for a variety of items, including weapons, armor, crafting materials, and consumables. It also offers daily Epic crates, with a slight chance of dropping a 725 gear score item.

  If you have some Doubloons and are ready to start using them, then when you open the Well of Fortune and scroll down, you'll immediately see these Apex Goldcursed Crates. These crates guarantee a 725 gear score item, but they cost 1500 Doubloons and a Goldcursed Coconut. So, it might take a while to get the gear you want.

  

  How To Upgrade The Gear Score?

  But there's also some decent gear with a gear score of 710 that only costs 750 Doubloons. Afterward, we can upgrade it to 725 GS.

  To upgrade your gear score, you'll need a Goldcursed Coconut, which can be obtained weekly in Cursed Mists PvP zone, as well as materials like Gypsum Orbs, Dark Matter, and Chromatic Seals to upgrade your gear. Please note that before upgrading, make sure the gear is unlocked in your inventory and not equipped in a gear set.

  Personally, while 725 gear offers slightly more stats and perk values, 710 gear with good perks is still very effective. So, if you're short on Doubloons, don't worry; getting decent gear for less is better.

  In short, if you're looking to wander around and want to pick up some 725 gear score items, consider collecting chests in Free-For-All zone.

  The new buffs in Season 9 make it easier to obtain Doubloons and reduce the risk of ambushes. So, not only can you quickly get Doubloons by collecting some chests, but you can also try your luck and save tons of New World coins because you won't have to spend more money on acquiring or crafting certain items you want!

• New World Aeternum Season 9 Flail Healer Build: What Weapons And Gear Do You Need?

  New World: Aeternum, an open-world MMO set in the fictional supernatural world of Eternal Isle in the 17th century, has recently received its ninth season update. This update includes numerous PvP-related content, including the new Capture the Flag mode and a new 3v3 map. Participating in PvP earns New World Aeternum coins.

  If you want to avoid crushing defeat in PvP, or even win, you need a useful build. Here's a Flail Healer build for you. This build is incredibly useful in a team, healing allies and weakening opponents, making it a great choice for PvP.

  

  Pros And Cons

  The flail provides powerful melee support, allowing you to unleash excellent AoE healing and provide valuable team buffs and enemy debuffs. However, it doesn't offer good survivability thanks to medium armor, block, and shields.

  The healing range is smaller than that of Life Staff main healer and is more positioning-dependent. Mana management can be challenging in PvP. Due to your limited tankiness, you'll need to stay closer to the front in combat, requiring more positioning and awareness. Furthermore, its single-target burst healing may be slightly inferior to that of a pure Life Staff.

  Flail Healer Build Weapon

  Primary Weapon (Flail)

  Power Stone (Artifact)

  • 64 Base Damage
  • 6.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.20 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 39.0 Block Stamina Damage
  • 39.0 Stagger Damage
  • 24% Block Stability
  • Effect 1: Increases Magnify
  • Effect 2: When above 90% health, attacks can inflict a Weakened state on the target for 5 seconds.
  • Effect 3: Attacking reduces your weapon skill by 2.5%.
  • Effect 4: Increases the damage of your light and heavy attacks.

  This artifact is your primary weapon and is the ultimate PvP flail. To unlock this artifact, you must complete the daily Soul Trial at level 65 for a chance to obtain it. Alternatively, you can craft it using Raw Orichalcite Stone and New World Aeternum coins.

  Recommended Skills:

  • Void Blade
  • Barrage
  • Arcane Smite

  Secondary Weapon (Life Staff)

  Living Mind (Legendary)

  • 55 Base Damage
  • 6.0% Critical Hit Chance
  • 1.20 Critical Damage Multiplier
  • 32.0 Block Stamina Damage
  • 32.0 Stagger Damage
  • 22% Block Stability
  • Effect 1: Increases Focus
  • Effect 2: Increases Healing Efficiency
  • Effect 3: When health drops below 50%, Divine Embrace's cooldown is significantly reduced, and casting this skill restores mana.

  You can craft this item using 72 Mystic Doubloons. This weapon significantly increases area healing, making it extremely useful in both PvP and PvE.

  Recommended Skills

  • Sacred Ground (AoE Healing)
  • Beacon (Mobile AoE Healing)
  • Splash of Light (AoE Healing) / Orb of Protection (Healing + Shield)

  Flail Healer Build Equipment

  Because this is a PvP build, the remaining equipment requirements are relatively high; you can adjust them based on your level.

  Grey Wizard's Hat (Light Headwear Artifact)

  • 103.0 Armor Rating - Elemental
  • 103.0 Armor Rating - Physical
  • Effect 1: Increases Intelligence
  • Effect 2: Increases weapon recharge speed when mana is above 50%
  • Effect 3: Reduces maximum cooldown
  • Effect 4: Reduces damage taken from ranged physical attacks

  Hoplite Cuirass (Legendary Medium Chestwear)

  • 456.1 Armor Rating - Elemental
  • 456.1 Armor Rating - Physical
  • Effect 1: Increases Magnify
  • Effect 2: Increases maximum health
  • Effect 3: Reduces maximum cooldown

  Gorgonite Handcovers (Legendary Light Glove)

  • 107.4 Armor Rating - Elemental
  • 107.4 Armor Rating - Physical
  • Effect 1: Increases Magnify
  • Effect 2: Reduces incoming light and heavy damage

  Hoplite Pants (Legendary Light Legwear)

  • 143.3 Armor Rating - Elemental
  • 143.3 Armor Rating - Physical
  • Effect 1: Increases Magnify
  • Effect 2: Reduces incoming light and heavy damage
  • Effect 3: Reduces maximum cooldown

  Gorgonite Sandals (Legendary Light Footwear)

  • 107.4 Armor Rating - Elemental
  • 107.4 Armor Rating - Physical
  • Effect: Four random perks

  Gorgonite Amulet (Legendary Amulet Jewelry)

  • Effect: Four random perks

  Elemental Band (Artifact Ring) Jewelry

  • Effect 1: Increases Magnify
  • Effect 2: Gain a continuous 6-strength boost when hitting a target with an elemental attack. Stacks when using different elements
  • Effect 3: Increases Critical Chance
  • Effect 4: Increases Stamina

  Hoplite Earring (Legendary Earring Jewelry)

  • Effect 1: Increases Magnify
  • Effect 2: Reduces Consumable Cooldown
  • Effect 3: Reduces Maximum Cooldown

  Gameplay Strategy

  Use flail abilities, such as Void Blade, within melee range to attack. This will heal and buff allies and yourself. Switch to Life Staff to cast key healing abilities like Sacred Ground and Beacon.

  You should stay close to melee DPS or tanks, staying in the center of the team fight or slightly behind, to cover allies with the flail's area of effect.

  Actively use flail abilities, such as Barrage, to buff allies, and apply debuffs to enemies with Arcane Smite and basic attacks.

  Rely on medium armor, Constitution, Block and Absorption provided by the flail, and the healing and shield provided by Life Staff to maintain your survival. Be careful to avoid your opponent's critical damage.

  This is the general gameplay of Flail Healer. Besides the high equipment requirements, including a considerable amount of New World Aeternum coins, it also requires some skill. This build has a very low minimum and a high maximum, so you'll need to adjust your skills accordingly.

• New World Aeternum Summer Medleyfaire Event 2025 Overview: How To Get All The Rewards In This Carnival Event?

  What could be more exciting than fun fishing and a joyful music carnival during the sweltering summer heat? Yes, Summer Medleyfaire is finally back, and it's what every fishing enthusiast has been waiting for!

  Summer Medleyfaire is a special event in New World: Aeternum. During this event, a community celebration themed around music and fishing takes place on the island of Aeternum. Of course, the rewards are the real deal. There are numerous songs, new exclusive titles, and items to unlock, and you'll even have the chance to claim rewards you missed out on from last year's event.

  I'm a big fan of this event, and I've mastered every aspect of how to make the most of it. So, today, we'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to get started with the Summer Medleyfaire event. We'll also provide some tips and tricks to make your fishing experience a little easier.

  

  Event Duration

  Before we begin, we must clarify the duration of this event: it begins on July 29, 2025, and ends on October 6, 2025. That's right, this event will last for over two months, so you have plenty of time to earn special tokens and win rewards. Get involved now!

  Location

  Now, let's move on to the first part of this event guide, which is about the event location.

  First, press the M key. You'll see a flower-shaped icon, which will be the main location for the event. Not only can you start a short questline for the event here, but you'll also want to visit it daily to accumulate event reputation by dancing. More importantly, you'll also be able to exchange event currency for items here.

  I want to emphasize that you need to speak to an NPC at each flower patch every day. They'll give you a quest to collect some instruments.

  Once you complete this quest, you'll receive a unique box as your first reward. Opening the box reveals an instrument and some music sheets. Now, all you need to do is memorize the sheet music.

  Completing The Musical Performance

  Next, we'll head into the map and find Maudlinbug Swarm, which is a white blob surrounded by yellow musical notes.

  When you get really close to one of these locations, you might see other players. You'll also see some blue flashes flying around. All you need to do is start playing your instrument at this location.

  Once you actually complete the objective, you'll not only receive some event reputation and some music XP, but also some Maudlinbug Bait for fishing and some Maudlindust.

  As you complete the song itself, you'll see some golden items pop up. Simply touching them will earn you more event reputation and Maudlindust.

  

  Rewards

  Now, you might be asking, why are we collecting all this Maudlindust? What's it good for? Well, let me tell you.

  You'll need this Maudlindust, along with some fishing gear (which we'll discuss later), to redeem Medleyfaire Tokens. You'll want to accumulate as many tokens as possible, as they're what you need to redeem the rewards during this event.

  Luckily, as we mentioned earlier, this event lasts for a little over two months, giving you plenty of time to collect a ton of rewards.

  The rewards here include fishing rods, some crafting materials, emotes, and a wide selection of furniture. There are also some cool skins, not only for instruments, but also for weapons and shields.

  Notably, there's a special Fishing Trophy that will make your serious fishing leveling experience even easier.

  Fishing

  Please note, this isn't the end of the event; if you're a perfectionist, you still need to fish.

  If you encounter hotspots like Aeternum Sturgeon when you start fishing, don't hesitate - I strongly recommend stopping what you're doing and starting fishing there. The great thing about these areas is that you don't need to invest in any special bait.

  Also, as a friendly reminder, I recommend spending some New World coins ahead of time to prepare for Scaledust Delight, which increases your fishing XP by 25% and boosts your overall fishing luck.

  Believe me, if you plan to go all out in this event, you'll be fishing a ton. Therefore, it's worth collecting these items early on and using them as you strive to catch more and more fish.

  While fishing, you'll also have a chance to pick up unique items, such as Sunken Treasure Chest. Opening these will reveal a wealth of New World coins and materials you can use to craft Fishing Memento Collection.

  

  Another very useful tip: I strongly recommend maxing out your Focus stat to 350 whenever possible. This is because Focus actually provides an additional passive bonus to your fishing, boosting your overall XP and catching more fish.

  Additionally, your casting distance increases your chances of catching bigger fish. With these tips, you can catch more and bigger fish, earning more rewards, which can ultimately be converted into tokens to earn you everything you desire.

  Try Your Luck At The Town Center!

  Finally, I'd like to remind you that you really should visit the town center of every town on the map every day, as you can pick up some unique items there. Trust me, there's a ton of good stuff here, including not only Medleyfaire Tokens but also free New World Aeternum Coins. So, you'd better go every day.

  In short, this year's Summer Medleyfaire has just begun, and there's still plenty of time to win prizes, so seize the opportunity and get started!

• New World Aeternum Season 9 Light Melee Spear/Rapier Assassin: How To Maximize This Build's Potential?

  Assassin class in New World is often characterized by high burst damage and flexibility, making it a popular choice in PvP combat. This class often utilizes various weapon combinations, such as Greatsword/Hatchet or Rapier/Spear, to achieve a balance of damage, mobility, and survivability.

  So, today, we'll discuss one of the most iconic builds in New World Season 9: the fast-paced Light build centered around Rapier/Spear.

  In fact, this build has been incredibly popular since the release of the base game. Furthermore, Fortify mechanic back then was completely different from today's, directly reducing damage by a percentage rather than increasing armor. Back then, every Light build was king. Now, let's witness the return of this once-great build in Season 9 - you definitely don't want to miss it!

  

  Light Gear Selection

  Now, let's get back to today's topic. As many of you may know, Light Assassin build is incredibly powerful, capable of eliminating targets with just a few attacks. But at the same time, they're also pretty typical glass cannons, with weak survivability.

  So, why does Rapier/Spear combination work better than the usual Greatsword/Hatchet combination? To find the answer, we must review this build and its game-changing artifact: Old Crown.

  Wearing this Medium Headwear not only allows you to keep your loadout light, but also grants you an additional 55 stat points, or 11 points in each stat.

  Furthermore, this artifact's most powerful feature is its dual protection against elemental and physical damage, which adds up to a total of 3% damage reduction.

  If you're wondering why it's stronger than Featherweight or Tumbler, the simple answer is that its resistance is far superior to the damage reduction provided by regular and elemental armor.

  Since this build's chest piece must remain light, our top pick is, of course, Gorgon's Shirt. This is a Light Chestwear item, and its three required perks are: Enchanted Ward, Shirking Heals, and Vital Synergy. In Season 9, these skills are much more cost-effective than before, so your crafting investment should be significantly lower, typically requiring only a few hundred New World coins to complete your setup.

  For Light Footwear, we chose Gorgon's Sandals. These boots offer strong armor that helps improve your overall damage reduction. The armor value applies to both elemental and physical damage types, making it very versatile.

  Then there are Light Gloves: Gorgonite Handcovers. These gloves offer a variety of benefits, primarily in terms of damage reduction and stat bonuses. They provide +36 Magnify, Enchanted Ward, and an open slot for gem customization. This combination is very valuable for players seeking increased offense and defense.

  Last but not least, there's Medium Legwear - Gorgonite Pants, which allow you to keep your load light while still providing maximum defense. For the three perks on your pants, you'll want Enchanted Port, Shirking Heals, and Shirking Energy.

  It's worth noting that we prefer Cut Pristine Opal for all armor in this build, as it grants a total of 12.5% elemental defense. Compared to the damage reduction you'll gain, any Runeglasses are useless.

  Jewelry

  To complete our gear set, we must also carefully examine the jewelry section.

  And I'll start by telling you that Ankh isn't our first choice for Amulet Jewelry.

  This may surprise you. Indeed, even after investing in Shirking Heals, I'd still prefer to forgo Ankh and invest in a crafted Gorgonite Amulet with Shirking Empower, Protection, and Divine perks.

  As for rings, there's only one choice: Gorgon's Ring, as it features perks like Thrust Damage, Hearty, and Empowered Cleave. This ring is strictly the best, and there's no alternative. Therefore, any other ring is just a downgrade.

  Last, but definitely not least, is Endless Thirst Artifact, an Earring Jewelry. Wearing this earring buffs all your Infused Burst Regen Potion and Regeneration Serum, while maintaining their cooldown at 80%. This way, you avoid the cooldown increase associated with your Artifact's passive ability and completely eliminate the need for Refreshing Toast.

  Rapier & Spear

  Finally, before we officially begin the game, don't forget your weapon. However, please note that Rapier, not Spear, plays a primary role here. This is because in this build, Spear is your main weapon, and you'll be using it the majority of the time. Therefore, maximizing Rapier's damage potential is crucial.

  I've already added Alternating Enchantment, Sundering Stacks, and Penetrating Backstab to my weapon, making it incredibly powerful. As for gems, I've also used Runeglasses to counter this. This way, even when we're low on health, this build still allows for bonus damage.

  Speaking of Rapier, I don't really consider finishing moves. Yes, I know there's a 15% damage bonus against bleeding targets, but since we only have one bleed perk in this build, and it's from Skewer, I'd rather invest in higher-damaging, more reliable sources of damage rather than supporting finishers.

  In my opinion, as long as you have Rogue and Penetrating Backstab, you're already doing pretty well, and the final skill should bridge the gap and certainly suit your playstyle.

  As for the gems on Rapier, I prefer Runeglass of Empowered Emerald for its bonus damage against low-health enemies.

  With this, I think I've covered all the core aspects you need to know about this Light Spear/Rapier Assassin build. Regardless, this build is a powerful and fun choice for players who enjoy mobility and burst damage in New World Season 9.